State Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D) is proposing regulations to control frac-sand mining. Anyone think it will pass the Republican controlled Legislature? And if by some remote chance it did, would Walker sign the bill into law?

Henry Vilas wrote:State Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D) is proposing regulations to control frac-sand mining. Anyone think it will pass the Republican controlled Legislature? And if by some remote chance it did, would Walker sign the bill into law?

Nope. Most people don't even know or care about ....-sand mining.

I'd rather see sand mining than iron mining, but I'm opposed to 'Fracking' on general common sense. Messing with underground systems is fraught with peril, just check out Louisiana & salt domes.

snoqueen wrote:We can test one hypothesis right now: what donations did Kipp officials make in the last election cycle?

Since 1990, Madison Kipp (primarily Coleman Reed) has contributed $33,850 to political candidates. Each donation has been relatively small, and gone to Republican candidates ranging from Dane County pols (Jonathon Barry, Nancy Mistele, Tom Metcalfe) to statewide (John Gard, Scott Jensen, Scott McCallum). Walker, Van Hollen, and Stepp are all on there (Walker: $850 in three donations; Van Hollen: $1,100 in six donations; Stepp: $1,000 in one donation, so $2,950 in all). The big winner: Tommy Thompson, with $9,000 in 14 donations, all made throughout the 1990s.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is calling for prosecutors to review an incident in which a company allegedly pressured Gov. Scott Walker's administration to interfere in an environmental investigation and a lawsuit filed by neighbors of Madison-Kipp Corp.

In a letter to be sent Wednesday, the party asks U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil and Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne to examine the actions of Ray Taffora, a former deputy state attorney general who supervised environmental enforcement for the state Department of Justice. Taffora now represents the East Side metal parts fabricator.

The State Journal reported April 2 that Madison-Kipp, through Taffora, had pressured Walker's office to intervene in a Department of Natural Resources investigation and citizen lawsuit stemming from soil and water pollution from the plant. A DNR regulator said in an affidavit that he had never experienced such interference in 30 years with the agency.

Madison-Kipp, Taffora and Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie did not comment for the story, which was based on documents filed in U.S. District Court in Madison.

Henry Vilas wrote:State Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D) is proposing regulations to control frac-sand mining. Anyone think it will pass the Republican controlled Legislature? And if by some remote chance it did, would Walker sign the bill into law?

A group of residents fighting the growth of industrial farms in central Wisconsin is seeking to halt a practice by the big farms they say poses serious health threats: the application of liquid manure through aerial spraying.

Now, you might be thinking, that seems pretty icky. Do I have to put up with this shit? The Walker administration says: don't stand in the way of progress.

State Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp and Agriculture Secretary Ben Brancel recently wrote to the leaders of the Wisconsin Towns Association and Wisconsin Counties Association asking them not to discourage use of aerial manure application, despite health concerns.

snoqueen wrote:And public access to regulatory information may not be as clear as one would wish, either. Maybe we were too optimistic upthread.

Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills...gleefully accepted $467,293 from the mining industry.

No coincidence the partisan mining laws mean the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources can't shut the project down in an emergency, can't insist on access to company property or facilities, can't demand that the company produce test results, or core samples, instead the neutered agency can only review what the company wishes to provide.

Read Donald's reply to my posting in the same Penokee Hills thread. Apparently there's a way to leverage federal regulations against some of this, in somewhat the same way we've had to go to the federal court system with some other Walker laws.

A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled against the state Department of Natural Resources in a case that could set a precedent for how much power the DNR has over setting lake water levels.

The case began in 2005 when the DNR rejected a request from the Rock-Koshkonong Lake District to raise water levels 7.2 inches on Lake Koshkonong, a 10,500 acre lake near Fort Atkinson.

The DNR argued raising the levels would worsen shore erosion and cause a loss of wetland habitat at the lake.

But the Supreme Court said Tuesday in a 4-3 decision that the DNR wrongly excluded testimony on the economic impact of lower water levels at the lake. Many in the area argued higher lake levels would increase tourism.

Even when the DNR tried to protect the environment, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that tourism is more important.

Public relations flacks are notorious for trying to bury embarrassing news in Friday evening press releases, but that time of day turns out to be a favored time for squelching public feedback as well. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), in the face of an online maelstrom of criticism over a SWAT-style raid on an animal shelter near Kenosha that ended with the killing of a fawn, shut down its Facebook page just as the weekend was starting.

It all started on Monday, July 15, when the St. Francis Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a no-kill shelter in Bristol, was raided by the DNR. A total of 13 law enforcement officers -- nine DNR agents and four sheriff's deputies, as reported by shelter staff -- arrived to execute a warrant to confiscate and destroy a fawn, named Giggles, that was delivered to St. Francis Society by an Illinois family.

Public relations flacks are notorious for trying to bury embarrassing news in Friday evening press releases, but that time of day turns out to be a favored time for squelching public feedback as well. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), in the face of an online maelstrom of criticism over a SWAT-style raid on an animal shelter near Kenosha that ended with the killing of a fawn, shut down its Facebook page just as the weekend was starting.

It all started on Monday, July 15, when the St. Francis Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a no-kill shelter in Bristol, was raided by the DNR. A total of 13 law enforcement officers -- nine DNR agents and four sheriff's deputies, as reported by shelter staff -- arrived to execute a warrant to confiscate and destroy a fawn, named Giggles, that was delivered to St. Francis Society by an Illinois family.

Not really a new priority though is it? CWD rules have been in place for years, as has the law baring possession of wild animals. If the shelter wasn't aware of either of those rules, they have no business taking in animals in the first place.

On the other hand not sure what they though Bambi was packing that called for the big guns. You'ed think a single game warden could handle this type of issue. Unless St. Francis Society has some kind of history of ignoring the law and refusing to comply with DNR orders.

Maybe all the other guys were just there to provide hugs for the guy stuck with the job of killing bambi?

The state Department of Natural Resources' board is set to discuss a multitude of changes to the agency's stewardship program this week.

The stewardship program authorizes the DNR to borrow money for land purchases, boat landing repair, property development and grants to conservancy organizations. Republicans have been critical of the program, saying it's running up massive debt.

The state budget Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed in June reduced the program's borrowing authorization by millions of dollars. The spending plan also prohibits the DNR from buying any land outside existing project boundaries and directs the agency to sell 10,000 acres by mid-2017.